Water Meadows

The River Shannon, Ireland, among the last unregulated rivers in western Europe, has extensive floodplains and supports rare and endangered species and habitats, of ecological and cultural importance. Unregulated floodplains result in community composition responding directly to natural fluctuations in water level. This study assesses how hydrological factors and farming practices effect flood meadow plant communities. Three main plant communities were identified, forming an uninterrupted ecotone, along a gradient of dry to wet. Habitats of European conservation interest (Lowland Hay Meadows and Molinia Meadows) were well represented. Hydroperiod, calculated using microtopographical measurements, was the primary factor determining community composition and was negatively correlated with elevation and plant species richness. The botanical continuum comprised a range of insect-pollinated species, demonstrating the role of floodplains in providing pollinator services. Climate change projections indicate more prolonged winter flooding in the future, signifying potential range shifts for these plant species and communities; highlighting the need for appropriate conservation measures in the surrounding landscape. Lowintensity farming practices, with minimal fertiliser use and regular hay-mowing, played an essential, secondary role in maintaining plant species diversity. Retaining the floodplain topography, its associated hydrological regime and low-intensity farming practices, are necessary to maintain species diversity and ecosystem services.

From the Middle Ages until the twentieth century, water meadows in Europe were primarily irrigated to improve their productivity and to lengthen the growing season. They were water management systems designed to collect and use water and to discharge it: water had to be kept moving. This chapter presents a general overview and a history of research on European water meadows. It also examines examples from the sandy landscapes of northwestern Europe, from Slovakia, and Norway. Three main types of water meadows are distinguished: simple dam systems, more elaborate catchworks, and highly developed bedworks. Of these, bedworks were technically and organizationally the most complex; they were also the most costly in construction and maintenance. Most water meadows were abandoned in the twentieth century; in many places, however, their traces can still be

From the Middle Ages until the twentieth century, water meadows in Europe were primarily irrigated to improve their productivity and to lengthen the growing season. They were water management systems designed to collect and use water and to discharge it: water had to be kept moving. This chapter presents a general overview and a history of research on European water meadows. It also examines examples from the sandy landscapes of northwestern Europe, from Slovakia, and Norway. Three main types of water meadows are distinguished: simple dam systems, more elaborate catchworks, and highly developed bedworks. Of these, bedworks were technically and organizationally the most complex; they were also the most costly in construction and maintenance. Most water meadows were abandoned in the twentieth century; in many places, however, their traces can still be

Through an in-depth ethnographic case study, we explore water management practices within the Jiroft County province in Iran and discuss the applicability of indigenous knowledge of regional water management to the resource governance of arid regions across the world. We explore, through qualitative analysis, the relationship between community social structure, indigenous knowledge, water management technologies and practices, and water governance rules under conditions of anthropogenic climate change. From participant observational and interview data (n = 32), we find that historically-dependent community roles establish a social contract for water distribution. Cultural conventions establish linked hierarchies of water ownership, profit-sharing and social responsibility; collectively they construct an equitable system of role-sharing, social benefit distribution, socioecological resilience and adaptive capacity in the face of climate change-induced drought. We conclude that the combination of hierarchical land ownership-based water distribution and what we term 'bilateral compensatory mutual assistance' for the lowest-profit agricultural water users, provides a model of spontaneous common pool resource management that bolsters community drought resilience. We use this case to proffer recommendations for adapting other centralized, grey infrastructure and regulatory models of water management from lessons learned from this spontaneous adaptive management case.

From the Middle Ages until the twentieth century, water meadows in Europe were primarily irrigated to improve their productivity and to lengthen the growing season. They were water management systems designed to collect and use water and to discharge it: water had to be kept moving. This chapter presents a general overview and a history of research on European water meadows. It also examines examples from the sandy landscapes of northwestern Europe, from Slovakia, and Norway. Three main types of water meadows are distinguished: simple dam systems, more elaborate catchworks, and highly developed bedworks. Of these, bedworks were technically and organizationally the most complex; they were also the most costly in construction and maintenance. Most water meadows were abandoned in the twentieth century; in many places, however, their traces can still be

From the Middle Ages until the twentieth century, water meadows in Europe were primarily irrigated to improve their productivity and to lengthen the growing season. They were water management systems designed to collect and use water and to discharge it: water had to be kept moving. This chapter presents a general overview and a history of research on European water meadows. It also examines examples from the sandy landscapes of northwestern Europe, from Slovakia, and Norway. Three main types of water meadows are distinguished: simple dam systems, more elaborate catchworks, and highly developed bedworks. Of these, bedworks were technically and organizationally the most complex; they were also the most costly in construction and maintenance. Most water meadows were abandoned in the twentieth century; in many places, however, their traces can still be

From the Middle Ages until the twentieth century, water meadows in Europe were primarily irrigated to improve their productivity and to lengthen the growing season. They were water management systems designed to collect and use water and to discharge it: water had to be kept moving. This chapter presents a general overview and a history of research on European water meadows. It also examines examples from the sandy landscapes of northwestern Europe, from Slovakia, and Norway. Three main types of water meadows are distinguished: simple dam systems, more elaborate catchworks, and highly developed bedworks. Of these, bedworks were technically and organizationally the most complex; they were also the most costly in construction and maintenance. Most water meadows were abandoned in the twentieth century; in many places, however, their traces can still be

From the Middle Ages until the twentieth century, water meadows in Europe were primarily irrigated to improve their productivity and to lengthen the growing season. They were water management systems designed to collect and use water and to discharge it: water had to be kept moving. This chapter presents a general overview and a history of research on European water meadows. It also examines examples from the sandy landscapes of northwestern Europe, from Slovakia, and Norway. Three main types of water meadows are distinguished: simple dam systems, more elaborate catchworks, and highly developed bedworks. Of these, bedworks were technically and organizationally the most complex; they were also the most costly in construction and maintenance. Most water meadows were abandoned in the twentieth century; in many places, however, their traces can still be H. Renes

The FEAL project, developed and accepted within the frame of Erasmus+ Key Action 2 (cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices), took place from December 1 st , 2016 to May 31 st , 2019. The article gives an overview of the project, the project's partners, aims and findings and last but not least the results and where to find them. 1

Through an in-depth ethnographic case study, we explore water management practices within the Jiroft County province in Iran and discuss the applicability of indigenous knowledge of regional water management to the resource governance of arid regions across the world. We explore, through qualitative analysis, the relationship between community social structure, indigenous knowledge, water management technologies and practices, and water governance rules under conditions of anthropogenic climate change. From participant observational and interview data (n = 32), we find that historically-dependent community roles establish a social contract for water distribution. Cultural conventions establish linked hierarchies of water ownership, profit-sharing and social responsibility; collectively they construct an equitable system of role-sharing, social benefit distribution, socioecological resilience and adaptive capacity in the face of climate change-induced drought. We conclude that the combination of hierarchical land ownership-based water distribution and what we term 'bilateral compensatory mutual assistance' for the lowest-profit agricultural water users, provides a model of spontaneous common pool resource management that bolsters community drought resilience. We use this case to proffer recommendations for adapting other centralized, grey infrastructure and regulatory models of water management from lessons learned from this spontaneous adaptive management case.

In order to convey limited underground water in deserts or arid regions, Persians have developed the qanat system for transferring water over long distances for drinking and agriculture purposes. Qanats transfer underground water to the surface from aquifers of mountainous or flat regions through one or more manmade tunnels. Water flows inside the tunnels with a gentle slope that provides gravitational flow of underground water. Water flows along the radius of an alluvial fan, which extends upslope until the water table of the region is tapped and emerges at the down slope end to the surface opening of the qanat. The demands placed upon natural ground water resources have become excessive, therefore many countries believe in the qanat system of water transfer. This study explores qanat history, development, geographical partition, rules and technical issues.

From the Middle Ages until the twentieth century, water meadows in Europe were primarily irrigated to improve their productivity and to lengthen the growing season. They were water management systems designed to collect and use water and to discharge it: water had to be kept moving. This chapter presents a general overview and a history of research on European water meadows. It also examines examples from the sandy landscapes of northwestern Europe, from Slovakia, and Norway. Three main types of water meadows are distinguished: simple dam systems, more elaborate catchworks, and highly developed bedworks. Of these, bedworks were technically and organizationally the most complex; they were also the most costly in construction and maintenance. Most water meadows were abandoned in the twentieth century; in many places, however, their traces can still be

With respect to land and water management in Iran, three paradigms can be distinguished. The pre-modern paradigm can be characterised by its key technical system (the ‘qanat’ underground irrigation system), its main social institution (the ‘buneh’ cooperative organisation of agricultural production), and its ethical framework (Zoroastrianism and Islam). The paradigm of industrial modernity can be identified by the partial replacement of ‘qanats’ by dams, the substitution of the ‘buneh’ by a system of smallholding, and the emergence of a mechanistic worldview. Since the 1970s, industrial modernity has gradually given way to what has come to be known as ‘reflexive modernity’. In Iran, the new paradigm is still in its first stage, and must be conceptualised and developed in terms of new technical systems of land and water management, of corresponding social institutions and of a new ethical framework that is sensitive to the specific features of the region.

In today’s dominant innovation climate of hype and high expectations of new, emerging technologies there is an almost total lack of attention for no-tech or low-tech solutions, while traditional technologies threaten to disappear completely. The ongoing displacement of traditional by modern technologies has, however, in many ways proven to be fatal for the sustainable management of natural resources. I will illustrate this observation by comparing traditional and modern irrigation technologies. I will focus on two examples: the qanat underground irrigation system that was developed 3000 years ago in ancient Iran, and the water meadows that have been in use for centuries in many parts of Europe. I will end with a plea for the development of a new paradigm inspired by the model of traditional knowledge – a paradigm that could act as necessary counterweight to the currently dominant innovation climate in which economic considerations and short-term profits time and again outweigh long-term sustainable resource use.

To illuminate the problems and perspectives of water management in Iran and comparable (semi-) arid Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries, three paradigms can be distinguished: the traditional, the industrial and the reflexive paradigm. Each paradigm is characterised by its key technical system, its main social institution and its ethico-religious framework. Iran seems to be in a state of transition from the ‘hydraulic mission’ of industrial modernity to a more reflexive approach to water management. This article sketches the contours of the emerging paradigm: a complementary system of traditional and modern methods of water provision, a participatory water resources management and a ‘post-mechanistic’ ethico-religious framework.

In this paper, we will focus on the Qanat underground irrigation system that has been developed 3,000 years ago in ancient Iran (Persia). The Qanat system is one of the most ecologically balanced water recovery methods available for arid regions. Because a Qanat relies entirely on passive tapping of the water table by gravity it does not upset the natural water balance.
The rise and dispersal of the Islam is mirrored in the ascent of ‘the Empire of Qanats’ in the Old World – from the Iberian Peninsula to central Asia. But around the middle of the previous century ‘the Age of Qanats’ came to an end. One cause was the introduction and widespread use of the pumped tube well. Electric and diesel-pumped wells offer advantages over Qanat irrigation by allowing water to be brought to the surface on command, but over-pumping has caused water tables to fall, aquifers to be depleted and Qanats to be abandoned at an accelerating pace. In addition to the (mostly privately owned and constructed) wells the public sector is engaged in the construction of many large-scale dams.
The new water resources management regime of deep wells and large dams is more in tune with a mechanistic worldview than with the traditional religious framework. These modern technologies have drastically altered the public perception and appreciation of water, which is now seen as a sheer endless resource. In our paper we will try to answer the question if it is possible to counterbalance this mechanistic worldview and the undervaluation of water due to the influence of modern water supply technologies with the help of Islam and Islamic principles.

To illuminate the problems and perspectives of water management in Iran and comparable (semi-) arid MENA countries, three paradigms can be distinguished: the traditional, the industrial, and the reflexive paradigm. Each paradigm is characterised by its key technical system, its main social institution, and its ethico-religious framework. Iran seems to be in a state of transition from the ‘hydraulic mission’ of industrial modernity to a more reflexive approach to water management. This article sketches the contours of the emerging paradigm: a complementary system of traditional and modern methods of water provision, a participatory water resources management, and a ‘post-mechanistic’ ethico-religious framework.